Partisanship

Did the recent government shutdown cause your confidence in government to soar?

We thought not. Luckily, Anthony spoke with UC San Diego prof Thad Kousser about where gridlock comes from, what to do about it, and whether politicians really deserve all the blame they get.

To listen to this episode of Our American Discourse, click the arrow in the player here. Or download it and subscribe through ApplePodcasts, Soundcloud, Google Play, Stitcher, or your favorite podcasting app – click the links or search “usc bedrosian.”

Nearly 20 years ago, Stanford Professor Keith Krehbiel wrote a book showing that political parties are less important in legislative-executive politics than previously thought — challenging previous assumptions of American politics and influencing the work of many up-and-coming scholars. USC Price School of Public Policy Provost Professor Jeffery Jenkins was completing graduate school when Krehbiel released Pivotal Politics: A Theory of U.S. Lawmaking in 1998.

Americans are fed up with gridlock in Congress, one of the least popular institutions in the country. You might think the solution is for legislators to pass major legislation. But what if the solution is even more controversial than the problem? If you’ve heard of “budget reconciliation,” you probably didn’t hear unanimously good things. That’s because it’s a risky game . . . a fascinating, strategic game deep in the trenches of our democratic tug-of-war.

In this episode, Molly E. Reynolds, fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Inst., teaches us how budget reconciliation works, where it came from, how it’s being wielded, and why you should care.

To listen to this episode of Our American Discourse, click the arrow in the player here. Or download it and subscribe through ApplePodcasts, Soundcloud, or Google Play, Stitcher, or your favorite podcasting app – click the links or search “usc bedrosian.”

By Matthew Kredell Ever since she worked for a state-level agency before attending graduate school, USC Price Assistant Professor Pamela McCann has been intrigued by when and why Congress chooses to delegate to the states for implementation of federal policy. In her new book The Federal Design Dilemma: Congress and Intergovernmental Delegation (Cambridge University Press),…

This is the fifth in my series of “Letters to a Trump Supporter,” from correspondence with a family friend who supports Mr. Trump. Continuing our conversation about Barack Obama, he sent me a so-called “Newsweek” article blaming affirmative action for the Obama presidency. Below is my response. ~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Mr. ——, This is an interesting argument. Thank you…

I was born and raised in Puerto Rico and I grew up finding the showy, grand, and loud political campaigns of every election cycle normal. I grew accustomed to political campaigns that are unlike anything I have seen in mainland U.S., except in the context of rival sports teams and championship parades. The people rally in…

The shock of the Representative Eric Cantor’s loss in the Virginia Republican primary earlier this summer has not quite subsided for some, including U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer (D-NY). According to a New York Times op-ed written by Schumer, Cantor’s loss to a small group of ideologically driven voters in the primary is the latest…

While in some states, political partisanship has been driven by demographic changes, economic shifts, and healthcare-related issues, there are indications that a new brand of contentious politics isn’t the only feature of Beltway politics moving to statehouses.